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Monday, January 23, 2017

I spent the entire weekend writing, just like last weekend. This is not a complaint, it's a dream come true. I was recently assigned four feature stories for three publications, all home tours from different parts of the United States. There were ranch-style homes in New Mexico and Texas, a Cape/colonial in Minnesota, and a historic Victorian in my home state of Rhode Island.

The process generally begins with a Starbucks run and my receiving many images or mock layouts of mostly interior shots and interviewing the homeowners by email or phone. I do a lot of research to fill in the blanks for myself and the reader on styles and tips and tricks. My favorite articles are the ones that inspire me to try things in my own home and that's how it all started for me -- with magazines.

When we first bought our home my sole design resource was catalogs until my sister Betsy came to visit and brought along an issue of Creative Home (and I'm pretty sure it was the one pictured above). Each glossy page was filled with simple projects and clever ideas, the writing was succinct and encouraging. It was a game changer for me.

I painted the first floor room we had always designated for my use yellow-on-yellow and altered just about every thing in there. I crackle-painted the coffee table, added ribbons to the window panels, recovered a memory board, among many other things. As soon as the paint was dry to the touch, I excitedly outfitted the room, took pictures and emailed them to Creative Home in response to their "show us your style" call-out.

Within the hour I received a reply to send more pictures and answer a few questions. What a thrill! This was before social media had really exploded (for me, anyway) and so print was king (still is to me). Creative Home has since ceased production but I still have every issue for reference, and I'll never forget how validating is was for me to be included.

So why this rambling rerun of a tale? Because the article I submitted yesterday afternoon for the upcoming issue of Vintage Style was to Debra Wittrup, the same editor of "my" issue of Creative Home, Summer 2008! Crazy, right?!

Whenever I update my portfolio page or find my work on the newsstand, it still feels as exciting and surreal as it did all those years ago. Here's what's out or coming right up: